Ionian Sea
1
4.4
- proper noun
:
Mar Jónico
- Bask in the sun, swim in the Ionian Sea.
Examples
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Twisted olive trees overshadowed a balustrade, and through their gray-green leaves gleamed the blue Ionian Sea.
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Bask in the sun, swim in the Ionian Sea.
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We got three days to bask in the sun, swim in the Ionian Sea, eat good food and wine, and enjoy each other's company.
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The natives of India and Japan have walked upon her pavements; Chinese and swarthy natives of Manila; children of the Antilles and South America; subjects of the Sultan and sailors of the Ionian Sea have sought homes here.
Academic text (2018) -
The Ionian Sea is famous for having caverns that go for miles.
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective + noun place name: 'Ionian' specifies the region and 'sea' denotes a body of saltwater, so together they transparently denote the sea belonging to or located in the Ionian region. The compositional naming pattern (region adjective + sea) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will grasp the meaning.
Etymology
Ionian Sea comes from the ancient Greek people called the Ionians, who lived on the shores and islands in that area. So the name meant 'the sea of the Ionians' and today it refers to the part of the Mediterranean between western Greece and southern Italy.